I Hate You
by Dawnbright75.Aracalima
Summary: A SecretClan challenge— my first! Jellybean is a rogue who has gone for much too long with three she-cats. The thing is, none of them know about each other. A story of betrayal and heartbreak, about 1,500 words without the I Hate You on the top! One-shot.


**I Hate You**

Claws dug into the flesh of a scrawny mouse. The animal squeaked, then without another breath, let go of life.

"Nice catch," mewed a smaller light brown she-cat with green eyes. "It's skinny, but ShadowClan can use it."

"Thanks," replied a white tom. He groomed his brown stripes as he purred. "With leaf-bare so cold, we need all the prey we can get."

A harsh breeze tore through the line forest. The tom shivered. He glanced up: the sun was high. He brushed the smaller cat. "Meet me at moonhigh," he whispered. "I'll meet you at my dead tree."

"That same rotten place?" muttered the she-cat. Her pelt smelled of lizards and pines, something the tom's did not. "Okay. Good bye, Jellybean!"

"Bye, Fallingpaw!" Jellybean galloped off, and forgetting the mouse. He had places to go, cats to see. Although he was once a kittypet, he ran away to a life of adventures. He liked to mess with the clans, particularly ThunderClan and RiverClan, where he didn't have to harm a she-cat he adored.

He arrived at his next stop: the Twolegplace. Gingerly, he hopped onto a wooden fence. He had shed his collar long ago; he wasn't turning back now. Carefully skirting the nest his twolegs had kept him in, he approached the white nest a few tree-lengths down.

"Rainbow!" he called, planting his behind on a fence post. "I'm here!"

A bell tinkled as a flap in the nest opened. A snow white she-cat danced down the strange, flat floor, her golden eye sparkling. Her other eye, the blue one, smiled as well. She leapt up to meet Jellybean with a purr.

"Jellybean! I've missed you!" she murmured as she pressed her slender build to his bulky one. "You've picked up a new scent," she noticed, referring to the evergreen essence.

He shrugged. As long as Rainbow didn't know about the ShadowClan apprentice, he was fine. "Just snooping about the clans," he responded casually. "Causing mischief."

Her eyes of different colors were bright with fear. "I wish you didn't mess around with those wild beasts," she whispered. "They could hurt you a lot. Remember Tommy? He wandered into ThunderClan territory. We found his body a few days later."

Jellybean smiled. "No clan cat will get the best of me," he promised. "I've no time to chat, but I just wanted to check up on you."

"Oh." Hurt could be heard in the kittypet's disappointed mew. "Well, I suppose I'll see you soon?"

"Of course," Jellybean purred. "I can be found in my rotten tree anytime" He licked her cheek. "I love you, Rainbow."

She rubbed her face to his. "Love you, too."

Jellybean exited the Twolegplace. He sprinted toward a moor smelling of rabbits, under a clear azure sky. This would be his final station before retuning to his rotten tree, and he looked forward to it.

He crouched next to a small boulder, a good ways away from the WindClan camp. There he waited, daydreaming of his mate, his love that lived with WindClan. His heart ached for her, for he hadn't seen her in over a moon. Guilt weighed him down as he realized why: he'd been hanging around Rainbow and Fallingpaw.

"You're here!"

He lit up as he saw a white she-cat race over to him. Her blue eyes were like fireflies, glowing with happiness and love. "Cloudberry!" he exclaimed. "Oh, I'm sorry I haven't come by! I really have meant to, but I haven't found the time!"

Cloudberry buried her pink nose in his fur. "It's fine! I know you have things to do, although I just know one of them wasn't finding a new place to sleep. That rotten tree of yours smells like crowfood."

Jellybean purred. "Thank you for understanding. I can stay a while, chat, maybe hunt. I've got to get back to my home before moonhigh," he murmured, remembering his invitation to Fallingpaw.

Cloudberry grinned a watery grin. "No problem." She sighed. "I've been lonely in WindClan. My sisters all have mates, and I've no brothers. No tom is interested in me. Not that I would accept any but you," she added quickly when she felt Jellybean stiffen. "Can't you join my clan?"

The tom sighed as he gazed into the dusk sky. "I wish I could," he breathed. "Couldn't you become a rogue?"

The she-cat shook her head sadly. "I can't leave WindClan. They need me."

Jellybean nodded. "I thought so."

The first stars watched them in silence. Cloudberry lay against his flank, lapping his ears and grooming his pelt. He felt her breath in her ear, feeling her hesitate as if she wanted to tell him something.

She felt her mate waiting. "I'm expecting kits," she whispered.

"What!" Jellybean sputtered. "But you're, you're tiny!"

"I've not been expecting but for a moon," she continued softly.

"Oh. I wasn't here." Jellybean bowed his head. "I promise I'll visit more often. In fact, stop by anytime. You know where."

"I love you," she murmured. "I will love you until the stars end."

"And I you," Jellybean responded softly. "I will love you as if you were a heap of fresh-kill. More."

The cats departed, often glancing over their shoulders, seeking one last look of their loves. Cloudberry scurried back to WindClan, while Jellybean hurried back to his dead, rotten tree of a home.

The silver moon hung high when paws sounded on the fallen leaves outside. Jellybean leapt to his paws, dragging prey from his stash. He smiled pleasantly as a grouchy Fallingpaw entered his dark den.

"I'm guessing this is my welcome committee?" she muttered. "Well, hi. I didn't walk here in the rain for nothing."

"It's raining?" Jellybean pricked his ears.

"You didn't notice?" Fallingpaw mewed, disgusted. She shook out her saturated light brown pelt. "Now you did."

"Indeed I did," he replied cheerily. "Come in and get warm. I've got some prey for us to eat."

"I can't eat. It'll look suspicious," Fallingpaw protested.

"Not as suspicious as this!"

Both cats spun around, fur bristling. A white she-cat stood in the rain, glaring with one blue eye and one gold eye. A collar was worn around her neck, and dangling from it was a silver bell.

"Rain-Rainbow!" Jellybean gasped. "W-What are you doing here?"

"You said I could come by anytime," she reminded him icily. "Well here I am, to find you with another she-cat." Rainbow's fur was bristling, her claws unsheathed. "Is this how you treat me? I was supposed to be your only love!"

Fallingpaw was gaping at him. "You fell in love with a kittypet!" she exclaimed. Rage and disbelief gleamed in her eyes. "And to think I actually liked you!" Her lips trembled. "I thought you liked me, too."

"I-I love you both!" he cried, backing up against the moldy wall. Suddenly leaf-bare was colder than ever.

"You weren't supposed to love her!" the she-cats spat in unison. They glowered at each other. "You weren't supposed to love him!"

"Jellybean, I— oh!"

The scent of hares filled the dead tree. The she-cats broke their gazes and faced the newcomer. Jellybean internally groaned, knowing he was in for a lot of trouble. "Cloudberry. Welcome."

"A third cat!" Fallingpaw hissed. "A third! What kind of lover are you?" She stopped to study the cat. "I know you," she snarled. "You're Cloudberry of WindClan."

Cloudberry jutted her chin out defiantly. "You're Fallingpaw of ShadowClan."

"Yes, I am," she retorted.

Rainbow was looking more flustered than ever. "He lied! He lied of all of us!" She began to spit. "He claimed he loved me. He lied!"

Cloudberry's shocked face found Jellybean's. "You said you loved me," she whispered. "Just today, you said so."

"He visited me, too," Rainbow spat. "That's why you were so busy. You were visiting her!"

"That's why you haven't been coming to see me," Cloudberry realized. "You were flirting with them." She turned maddened eyes on him. "I am quite ashamed to be carrying your kits. I am quite ashamed to be seen with you."

Fallingpaw ducked her head. "I should have never agreed to meet you hat first night," she whispered. "Look what trouble I got into." She glared at Jellybean. "I thought you loved me."

"I-I love you all!" Jellybean whimpered.

"Coward," Cloudberry hissed. "Tou were too afraid to 'fess up to two of us. Or to me, to say you were mating another she-cat!" She turned to the others. "I was his mate first. I should get to kill him."

Fallingpaw frowned. "But killing is against the warrior code."

"Mating him was against the warrior code," Cloudberry snarled. "We should both slice his throat, in honor to the clans."

Rainbow cleared her throat. "Well I didn't break any code," she said. "I should get to kill him."

"Why should I even die?" Jellybean wailed.

"Because you lied!" all three she-cat's roared with fury, and hurled themselves at him with claws unsheathed.

Jellybean gasped, before brushing he darkness that soon claimed him.


End file.
